


Sirens and Screaming (internally)

by WatercolorButterflies



Series: ChenJi's Crushes and Conundrums [2]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Blood and Injury, Gay Panic, Humor, M/M, Park Jisung (NCT) is Dramatic, Sirens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:54:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26353771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WatercolorButterflies/pseuds/WatercolorButterflies
Summary: Jisung is bored. He's been stuck inside all morning, and both Taeyong and Jaemin are out moving the last of Jaemin's boxes to his new apartment with his horde of demon boyfriends.Jisung is left alone, abandoned just because he whined a little bit about physical labor. It's not his fault they have a whole handful of healthy young men who are perfectly capable of moving a couple of small boxes by themselves. Jeno does boxing! He's buff!Jisung is bored, and alone, and he doesn't want to be either of these things.
Relationships: Park Jisung/Zhong Chen Le
Series: ChenJi's Crushes and Conundrums [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1915003
Comments: 3
Kudos: 64





	Sirens and Screaming (internally)

Jisung is _bored_. He's been stuck inside all morning, and both Taeyong and Jaemin are out moving the last of Jaemin's boxes to his new apartment with his horde of demon boyfriends. 

Jisung is left alone, _abandoned_ just because he whined a little bit about physical labor. It's not his fault they have a whole handful of healthy young men who are perfectly capable of moving a couple of small boxes by themselves. Jeno does boxing! He's buff!

Jisung is _bored_ , and _alone_ , and he doesn't want to be _either_ of these things. 

Sighing dramatically to an audience of none, Jisung heaves himself off his bed and makes his way to the kitchen. He's going to make a sandwich, because he is perfectly capable of making a sandwich like a grown up. He doesn't need Jaemin to cook for him anymore.

The lock of the front door clicks, and the hinges squeak as Taeyong pushes it open. He toes off his shoes, and steps past the doorway and into Jisung's line of sight. 

"Hi, Jisung. Aren’t you gluten-intolerant?"

Slowly, pointedly, Jisung raises his sandwich and takes a large, crunchy bite. "Hmmf."

"That's… nice. I'll just be grabbing the last box that Jaemin insisted he couldn't possibly live without for a night, then I'll be out of your hair and you can go back to staring at your ceiling for another hour or two," Taeyong is halfway to Jaemin's room before he stops and turns back around. "Unless you want to come help? Hang out for a bit?"

"Uh, no? Jaemin-hyung is literally guaranteed to try to pull my cheeks off my face. No thanks."

Taeyong giggles softly. "Okay, that's fair. Enjoy your alone time, it's probably all you're going to get for a while." Well. That's ominous.

He grabs the box he came for and leaves, sentencing Jisung to a heavy silence that creeps into his ears.

"You know what sounds good?" Jisung mutters to himself. "Ice cream."

There's this cute little ice cream parlor by the pier, but Jisung has never had the chance to actually try it. It comes highly recommended: Yuta, one of Taeyong's friends, has practically raved about the place, citing it as the best date location he's ever taken his boyfriend to. 

Jisung is inclined to believe him, but that man's smiles are pretty convincing, so he's a little skeptical. 

Then again, it's ice cream. There's no way it could possibly go wrong. 

/////

Jisung gathers his keys and his wallet, and since the sky looks a little dark, he makes sure to shrug on a coat as well. 

It's a dark sort of day, so maybe he'll try one of those weird novelty flavors. Like charcoal or lavender or ketchup. That should be interesting, at the very least.

The walk to the pier is quiet, aside from the occasional demented seagull screeching its fury at the clouds. Jisung's a little afraid they're going to come after him. They seem the type.

It really is a cute ice cream parlor, Yuta was right. The walls are a soft pastel pink, there's local art showcased, and each table has adorable little lace tablecloths draped over them. Jisung is in love.

Since the whole vibe of the place is soft and sweet, Jisung decides to get the lavender flavor. The color is gentle, probably light enough to not make his bread-induced stomach ache worse, and the cashier looks (a little too) delighted at his decision, but he's satisfied with his choice as he takes it outside to enjoy.

He takes a bite, excited, and— Okay. Hold on. It tastes like fucking _perfume._ Jisung is massively disappointed. He didn't sign up for this. 

Feeling disappointed and _betrayed_ by the worker who looked _so nice_ , Jisung meanders his way down the pier with the goal of getting far enough away from the parlor so he won't be seen tossing his shitty ice cream in the trash. 

Once the ice cream is taken care of, Jisung gazes out over the sea and decides to make his way towards a rocky outcropping so he can take some dramatic selfies to spam his friends with later. Maybe he’ll post and caption them with something like _waiting for my husband to come back from the war_.

Or _lost and alone_ , and he could tag Jaemin. Jaemin would flip out in the comments, it would be great. Plan set, Jisung stumbles down the stairs from the pier and invites every grain of sand to live in his shoes while walking to the rocks he has in mind. 

The waves are starting to pick up a bit, splashing high against the small cliffs and the sharp rocks Jisung knows are hiding just off the shore. 

A piercing scream startles Jisung into tripping over nothing and breaks the peaceful atmosphere, from the direction of the rocks. That’s _not_ good. 

Whoever screamed is probably dying. Jisung isn’t qualified for this. After a quick glance over the beach, he sees no other people around that could do anything. Okay. This is fine.

He’s more than a little terrified, but as a decent human being, Jisung is obligated to help whoever screamed to the best of his ability.

He gets a little closer when he notices what looks like… a person laying on the shore? They’re too far for Jisung to really make out anything, but from where he is, he thinks he can see them wearing something red.

Jisung starts jogging closer, because the person hasn’t moved at all since he first saw them. As he approaches, he realizes they don’t have legs. Their entire lower half is a smooth, shimmering tail. And the red isn’t their clothes. It’s reflecting the light, and very slowly spreading on the sand beneath their body. 

It’s blood. A lot of blood. 

“Hey, are you okay?! Can you hear me?!” Jisung is worried now, yelling in their direction to try to catch their attention. “Please be awake! And alive!”

When he’s a handful of paces away, Jisung hears a sweet sound that forces him to stop in his tracks. 

_What is this? Can I hear it for the rest of my life?_

The voice says he should get closer. Completely infatuated with the melody wrapping itself around his head, Jisung blindly follows its instructions and approaches the person— the _siren_ , his minimal magical knowledge supplies— until he’s just a step away, and waits for further direction.

Softly, almost inaudible if he wasn’t desperately searching for those beautiful notes, the voice orders, _“Pick me up.”_ The siren doesn’t look too heavy, Jisung rationalizes. And he probably can’t move too well, considering the massive gash running down his side. 

Jisung struggles, but manages to gather the siren into his arms, if a bit shakily. He could probably make it back home, but not much farther.

The siren’s voice makes another request. _“Take me home. Take care of me.”_ Oh. Well, that makes sense, doesn’t it? It’s not like a human doctor would know what to do. And Taeyong has more experience with magic and people with magical qualities anyway, so if Jisung can’t figure out what to do he has help. Really, taking the siren home is the only safe option.

But first, Jisung has to try to stem the flow of blood from the poor siren’s side. He sets him down slowly, so as not to irritate his wound further, then pulls off his coat and wraps it around the siren’s side, where the blood is flowing the fastest. It should hold for at least as long as it takes to get home. 

Soon after Jisung picks the siren back up, he feels him relax entirely, asleep. Just about halfway back home, the fuzz clears from Jisung’s head and he comes back to himself. He suddenly registers the rain pouring from the dark, angry clouds, and feels the ache in his arms from carrying something heavy for too long. 

It’s the person from the beach. He looks like a siren, from what Taeyong’s told him, and even while knocked out he seems to be really hurting. Even with Jisung’s coat haphazardly staunching the blood flow from his injury— which is honestly kind of impressive for not being in full control of himself— the boy is bleeding a _lot_ and it needs to be taken care of as soon as physically possible. Jisung walks as fast as he can to minimize the pain the boy must be in.

/////

After trying his best to follow video tutorials on how to properly bandage a wound and more than a bit of Jeno’s help, Jisung leaves the siren boy in the bathtub, and hides in the kitchen downstairs to call Jaemin and panic.

“Jaeminihaveasireninmyhouseandheshurtandidontknowwhattodoif—”

_“Dude. Chill out, I can’t understand what you’re saying.”_

“There’s a siren! In my house!”

_“And there’s a vampire in mine, what’s your point?”_

“‘What’s the _point?!_ He’s in my bathtub and I don’t know what to do!”

Jaemin sighs loudly through the phone. _“Make friends? I don’t know, Jisungie. What do you want to do?”_

“Hyung, you don’t get it, you don’t get it! I have a _siren in my bathtub._ And he’s _hurt!_ ” Jisung practically screeches into the receiver of his phone.

_“Did you help him? If he’s hurt you need to get help, Jisung.”_

“… Wh— of course I bandaged him up! I’m not cruel enough to leave it— okay, _fine,_ Jeno-hyung was here and he stitched him up a bit and _then_ bandaged him but the point is—”

_“Oh, so that was why he was back late with my mug. So if your siren is all stitched up and is going to be fine, what’s the problem?”_ Jaemin clearly doesn’t understand the gravity of the situation.

“What do you mean ‘what’s the problem’!?!? I have a siren boy who might _eat me_ when he wakes up sitting in my motherfu—”

_“Jisungie, langua—”_

“No, don’t ‘language’ me, I’ll say fuck if I want to, this is stressful!”

_“YAH! JISUNG PARK!_ _Just because you’re stressed doesn’t mean you can take it out on others.”_

“Yeah. Okay. Sorry, hyung,” mumbles Jisung, chided.

After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Jaemin groans and sighs again. “ _Jisung, I can’t help you. You’ve already covered his injury and given him shelter from the storm. There’s not a whole lot left to do except tell him where he is, and he’s probably woken up by now._ ”

“Oh. Should I go talk to him, then?”

_“Fucking—_ yes _, Jisung. Please go talk to the siren in your bathtub before he panics and does something all of us will regret. Go.”_

Jisung decides to just hang up, consequences be damned. 

He shoves his phone in his pocket and breathes deeply for a second to try to calm down. There’s a siren in the bathtub, but it’s fine, Jaemin says it’s fine, so it _must_ be fine. 

It’s fine.

With great reluctance, Jisung shuffles his way towards the bathroom the siren boy is in. Maybe He’s a nice siren. Maybe he’s a vegetarian. Or a pescaterian. Hopefully he doesn’t like to eat humans very much, or Jisung is risking potentially a limb or several by bothering him.

No, Jaemin said it’ll be fine, so if anything goes wrong, Jisung can sue him, or something. 

/////

The door to the bathroom has never looked more intimidating than right now. There’s a _siren_ behind it, who’s probably awake now, and probably at least a little bit nervous in a completely unfamiliar environment.

Jisung is just a little bit terrified.

A minute of unjustifiable eye contact with the door (that doesn’t have eyes) comes and goes before Jisung can will himself to push it open.

The siren’s awake. He’s awake and he’s staring with _hunter’s eyes._ Jisung is going to be _eaten._

“Is Jisung your name?” 

“Ohmygod!” Jisung startles hard enough that he nearly jumps back into the hallway. How does he know his name? He’s been asleep every time they were in the same room!

“How— how did—”

“You were on the phone,” the siren says, waving his hand and flipping his tail as if it’s somehow _not_ a big deal. 

“You heard that?” There’s no way. He was too far away! What else did he hear? But wait… imagine the possibilities… Jisung could finally escape Jaemin’s evil cheek pinches if he knew when to run and hide. “Cool— that’s. Wow, how did— I was all the way downstairs!”

“I’m a siren,” the siren shrugs, still maintaining his nonchalant demeanor. How is he so chill? “Which you know, obviously. We have really good hearing. And just so you know, I’m not gonna eat you—”

Can he _read minds?!_

“— You saved me, so that would just be rude. Is Jisung your name or not?” 

Jisung jumps again at the impatience in the siren’s voice. “A-ah. Yes. Yeah. Jisung. What’s yours?” 

Nailed it. Taeyong would be proud of his manners.

It’s a bit unnerving to be evaluated by a siren. They’re known for being a lethal danger, and the one in Jisung’s bathroom is just _staring_ , with narrowed eyes as if he’s looking for a reason to introduce him to the bottom of the ocean.

“It’s Chenle.” Oh no. That’s not the easiest name. What if mispronouncing the name is the last straw? What if that’s what drives the siren to murder?

“Chen—”

“ _Chen-le_ ,” repeats the siren, emphasizing the syllables _very_ firmly. He’s done it. He’s pissed him off, he’s sealed his own fate. He’s doomed.

“Chenle. That’s your name?” 

He nods. _Phew_. Jisung is safe. For now.

“Oh. It’s a nice name.” That’s a good answer, right? Compliments are good, everyone likes compliments.

He snorts. Fuck.

“W-What?” Jisung curses his voice’s incapability of smooth speech. He probably sounds _afraid,_ or something dumb like that. Which he isn’t.

“Nothing,” comes the response. 

That’s not reassuring. Deep breaths, Jisung reminds himself. Deep breaths, don’t panic, he can probably smell fear—

“You’re cute.”

… what?

The heat creeping up his neck and his ears is a _complete_ betrayal of everything he’s ever asked of his body. All he wants is to sleep, not react to gluten, and appear a normal amount of scared of the boy with a shiny tail. Which is not at all. 

Take a step back. One more step for safety reasons, and the siren will be too far away to do anything. He can’t move that fast, he doesn’t have any legs. Yet.

Just in case, “I— are you doing the siren thing where you like—“ actually that’s a stupid question, it’d be obvious, what is Jisung thinking—

“If I was going to do that, I’d just sing,” Chenle smirks.

_Singing!_ Jisung forgot about the singing! He covers his ears in a feeble attempt at blocking any sound Chenle might be tempted to make.

“Get your hands off of your ears,” Chenle says, rolling his eyes. “If I wanted to I’d have done it already, so it’s too late, and I wouldn’t have warned you either.”

Oh. “O...kay.” Taeyong always says it’s better to be safe than sorry, so at least Jisung tried. 

Out of nowhere, reality hits again. There’s a siren in his bathtub, his name is Chenle, and he’s _not nice._ “Ohmygod,” he mumbles to himself. “I have a siren in my bathtub.”

“You’re still not over that?” If Chenle, Renjun-hyung and Hyuckie-hyung ever meet, Jisung is doomed. He’d never know peace again.

But Jisung still has to defend himself. “No! No. Why— you don’t just get over that!” Sirens don’t belong in his bathtub!

“Why not? I already promised not to eat you.”

Promises mean nothing! They’re just words! “That’s _so_ not the—“

Chenle raises a judging eyebrow. Jisung feels very, _very_ judged.

“Okay,” relents Jisung, “That’s partly the point. But that’s not all of it.” The rest of it will stay a _secret._

Unfortunately, Chenle doesn’t seem to agree. He sits up in the bathtub, slowly so his injury isn’t jostled too much, and stares Jisung straight in the eyes. “What’s the rest of it then?”

The eye contact is too much. It’s not straight anymore. Jisung can’t handle this. He can feel his cheeks heating up again, and clears his throat in an effort to slow his panic.

It isn’t working.

Chenle’s eyes are too pretty, his tail is too pretty, his voice is too nice, and Jisung is in no way equipped to deal with this. 

“Oh?” Chenle looks way too pleased at Jisung’s reaction. This isn’t okay. Death is on the horizon, and this time Jisung doesn’t think it’s because he looks like siren food. 

“You know, it’s okay if you—“

Oh fuck no. Not today. Time to make an escape.

“Whatever you’re gonna say, no. And— and I think Jaemin-hyung is calling my phone again. I hear it ringing. Bye!” 

With that, Jisung sprints out of the bathroom and down the stairs as fast as his feet can take him. And if he falls, that’s nobody’s business but his own.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to watch me panic about anything and everything at my twitter @ watercolorflies!


End file.
